Some people might think that it’s easier to reveal your deepest secrets to the people closest to you, who will hypothetically support you and care about whatever you have to say, but for many, the opposite is true. Talking to strangers — especially anonymously — can be a whole lot less scary than divulging real things about yourself to people whose opinions actually matter to you.
So much of the internet and earlier forms of social media like forums and LiveJournals and Twitter before everyone started going by their real names and using it for real-world connections utilized this principle. And it still exists, just not as overtly in many cases.
But a recent Reddit thread decided to bring it back, asking people what’s something that they’re “willing to admit to the people here on Reddit but not to most people in real life.”
1.
I’m a 45 year old virgin.
2.
My eldest son is a hardcore heroin and meth addict.
3.
I’m starting to question my career choice in healthcare.
4.
I’m pregnant! But I’ve lost 3 babies already, so I’m really scared about telling people this time.
5.
I didn’t pronounce the g in “harbinger” with the j sound. I rhymed it with ringer.
6.
I don’t think I experience compassion or empathy like other people but I’m too scared to ask if that’s normal.
7.
I fantasize A LOT. At least half the day I’m in my head in the middle of some glamorous scenario that I’ll never be in.
8.
That i have the urge to pack my bags walk out of my parents house at night and start a new life and leave the old one behind.
9.
I want to get married. It’s my deepest wish but when the subject comes up my romantic and childhood insecurities take over and I speak ill of marriage.
10.
I completely fucked up my relationship. I was hurting her so bad and I didn’t even realise at the time. It kills me to realise now how bad of a person I am.
11.
I’ve been unemployed for almost 3 years and I feel like such a fucking failure. I’m so close to being out of savings and I can’t get a single interview.
12.
I feel like the most boring person in the world. I can see why I’ve lost all my old friends and can’t keep any new ones. Also, I’m really bad at maintaining relationships. I’m pretty happy, but I’d be all alone after my parents are gone.
13.
I think I never got over being in love with my best friend I had as a teenager and ten years after the last time we talked I still have sex dreams or think of him when I get turned on… It is the most bizarre and unbreakable thing.
14.
That I’m constantly at a loss for words. Literally. I feel like those around me are smarter than I am. I struggle to get my words out, although I have clear and concise thoughts in my brain. I just can’t articulate them into meaningful sentences that keep people interested in listening.
15.
That I’ve had suicidal ideation off and on all of my adult life. I might seem fine, getting on with my day, but inside there’s a voice saying (on repeat) “You’re no good. Kill yourself.” And most of the day the image of me blowing my brains out. You wouldn’t know. I seem like a fairly happy guy.
16.
I learned not long ago that I was my late grandfather’s favorite grandson, but until that time really didn’t think a lot about him, to the point where I thought that him dying the first was the best case scenario. Now I’m just trying to find him again in my memories and I feel like a pure asshole.
17.
One time on vacation, I was hiding in a closet that didn’t have a door and my unsuspecting husband was getting ready to walk by. I jumped out at him and scared him harder than ever before. He literally shit his pants. We silently agreed that we would never discuss it but man, every time someone says “you scared the shit out of me” my butthole puckers a little cause I want to say something soooo bad.
18.
It’s almost certain that i’m gonna die fairly young, way before most of my family members, and it scares the living shit out of me. And breaks my heart simultaneously. I know how I would feel if I had to experience one of my siblings or a parent dying (and hope I never have to experience that) and I hate that they’re all going to have to feel that feeling when I die first. even though i’m the youngest. And holy fucking shit am I scared of death. Fuck cancer man.
19.
In 4th grade, it was pizza day at lunch. I wanted an extra slice of pizza but didn’t have an “extra lunch chip”. If you had one of those, you’d put it in a bowl and you get a second helping.
I pretended to put a chip in with convincing sleight of hand. The lunch lady was fooled and gave me that extra slice.
As I’m eating my pizza, one of the lunch ladies yelled, “who took extra lunch without a chip?!” I said nothing.
I’ve never admitted that to a soul. Until now.
20.
How much I think about the ‘one who got away’. Mostly because it was so long ago that it’s pretty sad lol
21.
I am a 45 year old wife and mother with very well paying job, typical middle class everyday type of woman. I have to suck my thumb to fall asleep at night.